Messaging systems that provide voice and fax messaging capabilities are well known. One example of such a messaging system is the Network Applications Platform (NAP) commercially available from UNISYS Corporation (“the NAP system”). The NAP is a configuration of hardware and software that provides data and voice processing capabilities through applications running on a host computer system. The NAP, in combination with a network interface unit (NIU), provides the interface between these applications, called network applications, and a telephone network. The NAP is implemented on selected Unisys A Series and ClearPath HMP NX computer systems running the Unisys MCP operating system. Further details of the structure and function of the NAP are provided in the following issued patents and pending applications, all of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties:
U.S. Pat. No. 5,133,004, issued Jul. 21, 1992, entitled “Digital Computer Platform for Supporting Telephone Network Applications”;
U.S. Pat. No. 5,323,450, issued Jun. 21, 1994, entitled “Telephone Network Applications Platform for Supporting Facsimile Applications”;
U.S. Pat. No. 5,384,829, issued Jan. 24, 1995, entitled “Digital Computer Platform for Supporting Telephone Network Applications”;
U.S. Pat. No. 5,493,606, issued Feb. 20, 1996, entitled “Multi-Lingual Prompt Management System for a Network Applications Platform”;
U.S. Pat. No. 6,058,166, issued May 2, 2000, entitled “Enhanced Multi-Lingual Prompt Management in a Voice Messaging System With Support for Speech Recognition”;
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/161,214, filed Sep. 25, 1998, entitled “Multiple Node Messaging System Wherein Nodes Have Shared Access To Message Stores Of Other Nodes”;
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/307,014, filed May 7, 1999, entitled “Inter-System Call Transfer”; and
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/451,077, filed Nov. 30, 1999, entitled “Method and Apparatus for Preventing Hung Calls During Protocol Violations in a Voice Messaging System”.
Network applications running on the NAP 20 can provide enhanced services for telephone networks, such as Call Answer, Call Forward, Voice Store and Forward, Voice Mail, Bank By Phone, Emergency Number Facilities, Directory Assistance, Operator Assistance, Call Screening, Automatic Wake-up Services, and the like.
So-called “Universal Messaging” systems are an attempt to combine traditional voice and fax messaging capabilities with electronic mail (“e-mail”) capabilities. One approach to providing universal messaging system functionality is to, in effect, integrate an existing voice messaging system, such as the Unisys NAP, with an existing e-mail system. Each platform retains its own message store, but the system integrates those stores so that a subscriber can access all of the subscriber's voice, fax and e-mail messages from a single interface. Universal messaging systems typically provide access to messages from either a Web client, such as a Web browser, or a traditional telephone handset.
With the advent of multi-media processing, both traditional voice and fax messaging systems, such as the Unisys NAP, and universal messaging systems that combine voice, fax, and e-mail messaging capabilities, are likely to experience a need for a variety of multi-media processing capabilities, such as text-to-speech conversion (so that an e-mail message can be “played” over a telephone handset in a universal messaging system) and speech recognition (to enable voice commands to be interpreted or to enable voice messages to be converted to text). Also, both traditional messaging systems and newer universal messaging systems may in the future incorporate natural language understanding capabilities, which again requires specialized processing.
Unfortunately, traditional voice and fax messaging systems, whether integrated with other messaging platforms in a universal messaging solution or not, are limited in the amount and type of multi-media processing they can perform. These systems are not currently capable of handling the large volumes of multi-media processing that today's messaging services may require. Consequently, there is a need for improved systems and methods for efficiently performing various kinds of multi-media processing, such as text-to-speech (TTS), automated speech recognition (ASR), and natural language understanding (NLU) in a messaging system. The present invention satisfies this need.